I growled at him.
He snarled back.
And I suddenly wanted to cut through his magic just to return the favor.
There’d been this weight of darkness hanging on my shoulders for weeks now. A sense of foreboding. A thick feeling of dread.
I tapped into it now, wrapping myself in the black web of magic and allowing it to flourish through me. Ice drilled through my veins, dismantling my inner warmth, yet bolstering my resolve in the process.
It coiled.
Strengthened.
Coiled some more.
Until I couldn’t hold onto it for another second, the magic too intense and terrifying to maintain.
It exploded out of me in a cerulean flame, eating through all the enchantments in the room including my shield, and seeking the two males attacking me.
Zakkai absorbed the tension with a wave of his hand.
Zeph created a shield that deflected the blast.
Then the two of them stared at me on the floor. The power had destroyed my clothes.
Zakkai walked over to a bag on the floor, found a new pair of pants and a tank top, and tossed them to me. “Get dressed. We’re doing that again.”
I shivered, my body too weak to repeat all that. “No.”
“Yes,” Zeph interjected. “Now, Aflora.”
“No,” I repeated. “I’m done for today.” That power had been too much. Too dark. Too destructive. Too not me. It’d overtaken my earth, leaving me without a single glimpse of light. I refused to accept that. Refused to embrace it. Refused to allow it to happen again.
But Zeph wasn’t having it. He slammed me with another bolt of power, this one sweeping my legs out from beneath me and pinning me to the ground. “We’re not done.”
A rumble started in my chest, my irritation mounting. He wasn’t hearing me. “I’m. Done. For. Today.”
“That’s too bad, little star,” Zakkai said, tossing my clothes to the side. “Because I agree with Zeph. We’re doing that again.”
I wanted to scream. To maim. To kill them both. I needed a break. I deserved a break. We’d been at this for hours. Days. Weeks. I hadn’t complained once, taking everything they gave me and memorizing their rules.
I’d put up with their treatment, Zeph’s volatile behavior and Zakkai’s wicked spells, and I wanted to take the rest of the night off. Right now.
I took in Zeph’s offensive spell, copied the general structure, and sent it back at him. He deflected with his wand, already preparing another enchantment. “Enough,” I said through gritted teeth. I was too tired. Too done. Too—
“Do you think Constantine would listen to you right now?” Zakkai asked. “Because I think he’d revel in your show of weakness and drown you in it.”
“I’m not weak!”
“Your current situation suggests otherwise,” he countered.
Then he slammed me with another of those webs meant to dismantle my thoughts.
And Zeph followed up with another spell.
And another.
And another.